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ROLAND GARROSJune 1, 2014Andy MurrayPARIS, FRANCE A. MURRAY/P. Kohlschreiber THE MODERATOR: Questions in English. Q. You seemed to be unhappy last night that it had gone into five sets, but how proud are you with how you came through that test? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, well, I mean, obviously I was up in every set, and, yeah, to not finish at the end of the fourth set when I was up 4‑2 serving 30‑Love was obviously tough. But, you know, physically in the fifth set I was struggling. You know, I was cramping. So I was disappointed obviously that I wasn't able to finish in four sets. But at the same time, you know, stopping the match probably helped me a little bit, because if I had played seven or eight more games, probably wouldn't have been great. But today was a pretty high standard, I thought, for probably the best standard of the match I think from both of us. You know, he came up with some great shots when he was behind in games today. I thought both of us served a little bit better. It was a good finish to the match. Q. Did you go into the match with any physical issues, or was it something that came on during the match? What did you do last night? ANDY MURRAY: Well, I was cramping. That was what it was. It wasn't something I went into the match with. And, yeah, it was the first five‑set match I played since my surgery. Yeah, it was, you know, obviously playing late, heavy conditions, so it is tough on the legs in the evening. He makes you do a lot of running, as well. He uses the angles extremely well. Yeah, once he's in control of the point, it's tough to, you know, tough to get him out of that. So, yeah, I did quite a lot of running last night. I was glad I managed to come through. Q. You said a bit on court about having trouble sleeping. Were you sort of dreaming about the match, or what was going on? ANDY MURRAY: No, no, not dreaming. Just waking up. When you finish that late and you have to come back and play, you know, early‑ish the next day, obviously the adrenaline ‑‑the way the match finished yesterday, it wasn't like we stopped at, you know, a comfortable stage in the match. When you know you have to come back and it's 7‑All the next day and every single point counts, basically you need to get off to a big start. You're obviously going to be a bit anxious and a bit nervous when you go to sleep and then also when you wake up in the night, same thing is going to happen. Yeah, not the best night's sleep. Q. The mentality of coming into something like today where you know it's a shootout, does that ask different things of you in terms of your preparation? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, of course. It's completely different when you start a best of five‑set match. You obviously ‑‑not that you ever want to start badly, but you can't afford a bad start. You can get yourself back into a match. But when you start 7‑All, you can, like I say, every single point counts. I practiced twice before the match. I practiced at 10:15 on Suzanne Lenglen, and then rather than doing my usual prematch warmup, I went back on the practice courts and hit for half an hour right up until the match finished before me, the Berdych/Isner match. Gave myself the best chance to hit the ball clean from the start of the match. Q. Verdasco next. He probably gave you your toughest match at Wimbledon last year. Would you say that playing on clay gives him an advantage? ANDY MURRAY: Well, not many people think I play particularly well on clay, so I would say that would give him an edge there. He's obviously had some good results on clay. But he plays well on every surface, indoors, he's had good results on grass. Also, yeah, obviously the clay, as well. Yeah, it will be a tough match, for sure. When he plays, he plays well. He's incredibly talented, very, very tough player. I need to play a good match and do everything I can to be fresh for tomorrow. Q. With reference to that last question, do you feel you're playing as well as you have ever done on clay at the moment? If so, what kind of little adjustments do you put that down to? ANDY MURRAY: I played well on clay the last few weeks, that's for sure. You know, this last match against Philipp was, it could have been one of my best wins if I managed to close out the fourth set, because he's a very, very tough player. He's playing well just now. Obviously ended up becoming an extremely tough match. But, yeah, today is a very good win for me to beat a player like him on this surface. And, yeah, hopefully I can keep improving, keep learning. You know, there are certain things I can learn from today's match that, you know, if I do sort of take on board the things that I didn't do so well at times and hopefully I can make some adjustments for the next match and play better. Q. Can you let us into one or two of the little specifics that you're thinking about when you're out there on this surface? ANDY MURRAY: Well, you need to be patient on the clay courts. You can't just go and blast your way through opponents. Because, you know, to hit big shots on the clay, normally there is not that much pace on the ball that's coming at you. So you have to generate a lot of the power yourself, which is a lot more tiring than on a grass court, for example. But you also don't want to become passive and when the ball is there not go for your shots. You need to make sure you pick the right moments to go for it. At times today I did that ‑‑ well, throughout the course of the match I did it very well. And there were times when I was getting too far behind the baseline and being a bit too passive. I just need to try and make sure I get that balance right. And when I do, I play some good clay court tennis. Q.  Obviously you still have some work here at Roland Garros. But I'd like to know whether in the past months or recently you have been thinking about how you would feel to come back to Wimbledon as the defending champion. ANDY MURRAY: Well, I have been asked about it a few times the past few weeks. But it's not something I have thought much about in the last, yeah, 10, 12 months. I haven't thought loads about it. Well, 12 months ago I hadn't won Wimbledon. But, yeah, last 10 months or so. But I'm sure, you know, as the time gets nearer, and, you know, get ready to play the first match on Monday, I'll definitely ‑‑ you know, I'll be excited about it. I will be nervous. It was an experience, something I have never experienced before. Players have talked about it in the past, that it's a great experience. But it can also be a nerve‑racking one on you. Yeah, I will look forward to it, I'm sure. Q. You mentioned that you say certain people don't think you're a good clay court player. Do you think you're a good clay court player? ANDY MURRAY: Well, I have had decent results here, made the semis obviously, a couple of quarterfinals. So, you know, it's not been as good as obviously, you know, when you see guys like Rafa and obviously Novak and Roger, you know, they are three of probably the greatest clay court players, along with Borg and a few others, in terms of their results on the surface. Definitely not up on par with them. But, you know, with the other guys, I feel like I have done a decent job. There is not loads of guys that have had better results consistently here. I feel like I can play good clay court tennis. But I need to ‑‑ you know, to win this event, you need to play great clay court tennis. That's something I haven't done yet. Q. Today's match, how important was the net cord at 15‑30, the 20th or 21st game? ANDY MURRAY: Well, yeah. It turned out to be very important. But you can't ‑‑ overa match that's that long, I could look back at points that happened at 4‑2 in the fourth set as well. But, you know, obviously that point turned out to be very important to that game. But, yeah, you can't look at one point to decide a match of that length. Q. Your record in five‑set matches is one of the best around. Is that one of the statistics that you're most proud of? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah. I mean, obviously I didn't feel great physically last night, whereas in a lot of the other five‑set matches I have played I have felt very good. So this was a very tough one for me to come through. But, yeah, that's really the point of doing the training. You know, I think I lost my first few five‑set matches. I was like 1‑4 or something at the start, so I have won quite a few of my last 15, 16 five‑setters. That's what the training is for. Q. Off topic, but I believe you're a Heat season ticket holder. How do you like their chances in the finals? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I think they've got a good chance. They have obviously played great in the last game. But, yeah, the Spurs, they are always unbelievably consistent, always give themselves a chance to win. And, yeah, I think it should be a great final. I was reading like in the last 10 years I saw a stat that Tim Duncan had won 622 games in the last 10 years and that LeBron had won 621. They are No. 1 and 2. So they obviously both know how to get their teams winning. It will be interesting. Q. Do you see a three‑peat? ANDY MURRAY: It's possible. I think they have a shot. Q. Referencing clay courts, what surface do you enjoy playing the most and why? ANDY MURRAY: I enjoy playing on grass the most just because there is hardly any tournaments on it. Yeah, I think a lot of players find it a challenging surface to play on, and it's a surface that you need to adjust to very quickly. The clay court season is obviously pretty long. The hard court season is extremely long, as well. I just think the grass, there is something different about it. It feels completely different underfoot, it looks totally different. You can see different game styles on it. Obviously it's slowed down now, but I still think you can see guys serve/volleying a bit. You can come forward a bit. You see a lot of variety with slices, low balls. You know, people come to the net a little bit more on that surface. So I'd say grass. Q. Were you unhappy that you were serving first coming back out today, or would you rather have returned? ANDY MURRAY: Well, it was tough, because ‑‑well, I calculated last night that ball change was going to be after the first game, so I knew I was going to be serving with the oldest balls and he'd be serving with the new ones. When the umpire told us at the start, he didn't actually know, so he went immediately to change his racquet because he was going to play with an older racquet. He changed to a brand new racquet because he didn't realize. But, yeah, I don't know, it was quite a tough one. You know, normally in those situations it's better if we hadn't stopped it would be better to be serving first, and especially when you get towards the end of a set like that, you know, because you're always having to serve to stay in it, so there is pressure there. Coming out and serving with the old balls and knowing you're going to return with the new ones. I don't know. It was 50/50 really. Q. Short time on court, which bits hurt on the body at the moment? What do you think you need to do rehab‑wise to be ready for Verdasco tomorrow? ANDY MURRAY: I don't feel that sore. That was a good thing. When I woke up this morning I felt pretty decent. I was cramping yesterday. My muscles were obviously fatigued. Yeah, I actually woke up okay. That's the nice thing about this surface compared with the hard court is when you have a tough match on the hard courts, you wake up the next day and your hips are sore, your knees are sore. Your joints hurt quite a lot. Whereas on the clay, you know, you get fatigued muscles and tired muscles and you can be a bit stiff, but it's never anything too bad. Q. So do you worry that the match you just played will have an impact on the next one physically or are you confident... ANDY MURRAY: I haven't thought about that, to be honest. Maybe it will, but my job is to go out there and give 100% of what I've got on the day, and hopefully that will be enough. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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